Navy ISR Qustions

[swimmom]

Last month, my son was offered and signed a four-year Navy Immediate Scholarship Reservation (ISR) contract. He has completed his medical and vision exam through DoDMERB as part of his USNA application and has been deemed medically qualified. The required physical fitness test should not be a problem for him.

When checking his online portal for ROTC, it still says that "No decision has been made on your application." Can he assume, at this point, that the NROTC Scholarship acceptance is a done deal? If not, what kind of foreseeable problems may exist? Of the five colleges he has applied to, he has received acceptance letters from two so far (the others just closed December 1st).

That brings us to another question. His first choice for school is UCSD. In reading the information on their webpage, it appears that the ROTC courses are held at USD or SDSU. Would anyone know if there is some kind of a shuttle to take the students from UCSD to either of these schools for his ROTC courses and PT or is he on his own to arrange his own transportation? In addition, both USD and SDSU start classes almost a month before UCSD. How would this work for a freshman who has plans to live in the dorms at UCSD for at least the first year? I'm guessing the dorms at UCSD would not be open for that month before the regular classes start. Has anyone encountered this and what did you do for living arrangements during that one-month period?

Thank you for your help.

 

[Cat57]

UCSD

My son is a freshmen NROTC -MO at SDSU. Cadets are responsible for getting themselves to USD for PT, Drill and Lab. That said, the unit puts some responsibility on upperclassmen to "shepherd" the freshmen flock. For some of the special events, duty drivers take care of it. The unit expects the kids to figure it out and get themselves there and it seems like my kid has managed it just fine. He did not have a car his first semester and cadged rides without a problem. He made sure he shared gas expenses and bought meals now and then so he would not be "that guy". My kid loves being in San Diego and is really happy at SDSU. He says commuting to USD can be a pain sometime, especially when you have to roll out of your rack at 4:30am to be there in time for PT, but overall, he said it was manageable. I got a chuckle his first morning home for break this past week. He was up at 6:30am. I asked him why he wasn't sleeping and he said, "Mom, that is sleeping in when you are usually up 2 hours earlier everyday." I heard that next year, they plan to make some scheduling changes to minimize the number of times the kids have to come to USD. Don't know if that will happen, but it is something I heard from one of the officers. Exciting times ahead. Congratulations on the ISR. That is pretty darn impressive.